The dissertation investigates learner beliefs, language ideologies, self-positioning, and language use among a group of Swiss university students of Danish as a foreign language. The theoretical framework of the study draws on socially informed second language acquisition (SLA) research and on late modern sociolinguistics. The main research questions are:
What do Swiss university students of Danish as a foreign language believe about
language and language learning, why do they hold these beliefs, and how do the
beliefs relate to language ideologies?
How do the participants present themselves in terms of beliefs, ideologies, and selfpositioning?
In what ways do the participants use linguistic features generally thought to belong to different languages, to what degree can their language use be compared with polylingual behaviour, and how does their language use relate to the beliefs and ideologies expressed by the participants?